September 26, 200817 yr the BBB : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7637257.stm Extract from the full news page : Somalia's pirates seize 33 tanks The waters off Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world A Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, the Ukrainian defence minister has confirmed. Earlier, the country's foreign ministry said the ship had a crew of 21 and was sailing under a Belize flag to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There has been a recent surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia. Russia announced on Friday it would start carrying out regular anti-piracy patrols in the waters off Somalia. A navy spokesman said a warship had been sent to the area earlier this week to protect Russian citizens and ships. Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years, leading to a collapse of law and order both on land and at sea. Somali pirates are currently holding more than a dozen hijacked ships in Eyl, a town in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Senior UN officials estimate the ransoms pirates earn from hijacking ships exceed $100m (£54m) a year.
September 26, 200817 yr the BBB : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7637257.stm Extract from the full news page : Somalia's pirates seize 33 tanks The waters off Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world A Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, the Ukrainian defence minister has confirmed. Earlier, the country's foreign ministry said the ship had a crew of 21 and was sailing under a Belize flag to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There has been a recent surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia. Russia announced on Friday it would start carrying out regular anti-piracy patrols in the waters off Somalia. A navy spokesman said a warship had been sent to the area earlier this week to protect Russian citizens and ships. Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years, leading to a collapse of law and order both on land and at sea. Somali pirates are currently holding more than a dozen hijacked ships in Eyl, a town in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Senior UN officials estimate the ransoms pirates earn from hijacking ships exceed $100m (£54m) a year. Sounds like time, as some others have noted on other foums, to begin some raid operations on where these maurauders launch from. Let's start sinking some of these boats.
September 26, 200817 yr Author Well, I was thinking of making a alternate of the Hormuz Strait scenario in HNR 2003 for testing the vassal module, with landing Marines or drop/airmobile Legionnaires from Djibouti(the French do have an interest in that part of the world), but Eyl is not really a port (it's 2 km in-land, on the shores of a river that seems to full of sediments, without a clear channel to the sea. Satellite pix show mucho fishing boats laying on the beach. Would have to give some kind of armada to the pirates, or bomb boats against a light detachment of Western Forces... Two-pronged attack, maybe ? Landing marines with some naval and aviation support (a couple fighter bombers and helos, SSMs), to cut off the sea access, and a land based attack by Legionnaires, in the spirit of a new era of French/US cooperation as heralded by Sarkozy. Btw, the ground rules are not included in high tide ? I'm asking because there seems to be quite a bit of GCS stats in it, as well as scenarios with a GCS element in HT
September 27, 200817 yr btw, the ground rules are not included in high tide ? I'm asking because there seems to be quite a bit of GCS stats in it, as well as scenarios with a GCS element in HT To the best of my knowledge, the GCS rules are only found in South Atlantic War II. High Tide GCS elements consist of a few scenarios involving a handful of OOB's of the forces involved.
January 10, 200917 yr I see the pirates who siezed the tanker got their ransom money and promptly capsized the getaway boat, drowned, and sent the money to the bottom. Edward Teach must be rolling over in his grave laughing. Buddha
January 11, 200917 yr With all those eyes watching that ship, it is inconceivable that their mishap was not observed. And yet, not one of the naval ships rendered assistance. Very interesting, indeed. I guess if you decide to operate outside the parameters of law, you shouldn't expect assistance from legal means, either. However, I bet that there are attorneys already drawing up papers to sue the various naval nations "on behalf of the victims" for failure to render assistance in good maritime tradition.
January 11, 200917 yr With all those eyes watching that ship, it is inconceivable that their mishap was not observed. And yet, not one of the naval ships rendered assistance. Very interesting, indeed. I guess if you decide to operate outside the parameters of law, you shouldn't expect assistance from legal means, either. However, I bet that there are attorneys already drawing up papers to sue the various naval nations "on behalf of the victims" for failure to render assistance in good maritime tradition. Right on, man. The least they could have done is throw those poor guys an anchor to make sure they didn't drift away. Maybe they were aware of the latest ruling by the idiots on our Supreme Court here in California regarding Good Samaritans. Sadly enough, your observation regarding lawyers is probably correct. Buddha
January 11, 200917 yr However, I bet that there are attorneys already drawing up papers to sue the various naval nations "on behalf of the victims" for failure to render assistance in good maritime tradition. You didn't read the story very carefully, I see. Note that the pirates' money sank with them. How they gonna afford attorneys now?
January 11, 200917 yr Sadly enough, your observation regarding lawyers is probably correct. Too often folks forget about the lawyers on the other side of frivolous claims, fighting against them. And, notably, when they do win, its the juries of your "peers" that grant them.
January 11, 200917 yr Author Sadly enough, your observation regarding lawyers is probably correct. Too often folks forget about the lawyers on the other side of frivolous claims, fighting against them. And, notably, when they do win, its the juries of your "peers" that grant them. Touché, and zing
January 11, 200917 yr Sadly enough, your observation regarding lawyers is probably correct. I still remember the Bhopal disaster. France sent doctors, Canada sent wheat,... and the US sent lawyers to file class-action lawsuits against Union Carbide...
January 11, 200917 yr Sadly enough, your observation regarding lawyers is probably correct. I still remember the Bhopal disaster. France sent doctors, Canada sent wheat,... and the US sent lawyers to file class-action lawsuits against Union Carbide... Why doesn't that surprize me? There are more lawyers in D.C than in the entire nation of Japan. I guess they need something to do. Hard as it is to believe, there was a time when becoming a lawyer was an honorable aspiration. Like a lot of other things, that era is long gone. Buddha
January 12, 200917 yr High time we denied these criminals safe harbors. Piracy in the Caribbean was practically wiped out by the end of the 18th century and was virtually nonexistant until the last couple of decades, because everyone assumed it was ancient history. Take one Los Angeles-class boat, two SEAL teams and a couple of CIA operatives on the shore and we could wipe out these pirates quite handly. The spies will feed their intel to the USN taskforce (the aforementioned Sub and SEAL teams), the Sub will drop it's Tomahawks on the harbors and the SEALs can act on intelligence if the mission needs a certain level of delicate handling.
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